masonry and iron spans-
Labrouste's use of industrial materials, such as cast iron columns, as
prominent features in the reading room of this library, generated
controversy, because conventional thought at the time equated such important
building types with dressed stone and other traditional high-end materials.

One of the greatest cultural buildings of the
nineteenth century to use iron in a prominent, visible way was unquestionably
the Bibliotheque Ste.-Genevieve in Paris, designed by Henri Labrouste and built
in 1842-50. The large (278 by 69 feet) two-storied structure filling a wide,
shallow site is deceptively simple in scheme: the lower floor is occupied by
stacks to the left, rare-book storage and office space to the right, with a
central vestibule and stairway leading to the reading room which fills the
entire upper story. The ferrous structure of this reading room—a spine of
slender, cast-iron Ionic columns dividing the space into twin aisles and
supporting openwork iron arches that carry barrel vaults of plaster reinforced
by iron mesh—has always been revered by Modernists for its introduction of high
technology into a monumental building.

The National Library of France traces its origin to the royal library
founded at the Louvre by Charles V in 1368. It expanded under Louis XIV and
opened to the public in 1692. The library's collections swelled to over 300,000
volumes during the radical phase of the French Revolution when the private
libraries of aristocrats and clergy were seized. By an act of the revolutionary
French National Assembly, the Library became the first free public library in
the world in 1793.

Following the series of regime changes in France, it became the
Imperial National Library and in 1868 was moved to newly constructed buildings
on the rue de Richelieu designed by Henri Labrouste.

On 14 July 1988, François Mitterrand announced the construction and the
expansion of one of the largest and most modern libraries in the world, intended
to cover all fields of knowledge, and designed to be accessible to all, using
the most modern data transfer technologies, which could be consulted from a
distance, and which would collaborate with other European libraries.
Surprisingly, the library does not maintain a wireless network. In July 1989,
the services of the architectural firm of Dominique Perrault were retained. The
construction was carried out by Bouygues. After the move of the major
collections from the rue de Richelieu, the National Library of France opened to
the public on 20 December 1996. It contains more than ten million volumes. Those
who work in it are not happy with the extremely long distances they have to walk
to reach basic functions. It also features a landscaped garden pit at its center
that cannot be enjoyed except with one's eyes, and several of the trees need to
be supported with rope to prevent them from falling.

get off at metro stations: Palais Royal - Musée du Louvre or
Louvre Rivoli.

The Louvre Museum (Musée du Louvre), in
Paris, France, is one of the largest and most famous museums in the
world. The building, a former royal palace, lies in the centre of Paris,
between the Seine river and the Rue de Rivoli. Its central courtyard,
now occupied by the Louvre Pyramid, lies in the axis of the
Champs-Élysées, and thus forms the nucleus from which the Axe historique
springs. Part of the royal Palace of the Louvre was first opened to the
public as a museum on November 8, 1793, during the French Revolution.

La Pyramide Inversée (The Inverted Pyramid)
is a skylight constructed in an underground shopping mall in front of
the Louvre Museum in France. It may be thought of as a smaller sibling
of the more famous Louvre Pyramid proper, yet turned "upside down": its
upturned base is easily overlooked from outside.

Jean Nouvel is the supernova of Paris architecture stars; an entire show
at the Pompidou was devoted to him in 2002, and he is responsible for the
popular Tour Sans Fin in La Defense (which isn’t actually endless, only 100
stories high.) Nouvel was the main architect of the brilliant Institut du Monde
Arabe, and expectations are high for his latest Paris project, the Musée des
Arts Premiers, opening in 2004 on Quai Branly near the Eiffel Tower. Until this
new museum is finished, you can best appreciate Nouvel’s vision at one of his
older buildings, the Fondation Cartier. Here on Boulevard Raspail is the essence
of Nouvel’s vision. Relying on new types of glass and support structures, the
Fondation building is transparent, emphasizing its natural surroundings. The
site was once the home of French writer Chateaubriand, who planted a tree in the
yard. Nouvel managed to design the new building around the tree, to preserve the
living link to the past. Nouvel is part of an international trend away from the
purist manipulation of space, towards a crucial focus on building materials.
Just as Haussmann’s Paris was defined by its golden “pierre de Paris stone,” and
mid-20th-century Paris was defined by gradual discoveries using reinforced
concrete, Nouvel reveals the most recent incarnation of Paris by using glass to
reinterpret the City of Light.

The Musée d'Orsay is a museum in Paris on the left bank of
the Seine near Musée d'Orsay RER line C station. It holds mainly French art
dating from 1848 to 1914, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and
photography. Many of these works were held at the Galerie nationale du Jeu de
Paume up to 1986.

There are two good reasons to visit this
hôtel: it is one of the most beautiful in Paris, and it is devoted to the
sculptor Auguste Rodin. The financier Abraham Peyrence de Moras, enriched by the
speculations of the banker John Law, built this residence, his third in Paris.
It was later purchased in secession by the duchesse du Maine and the maréchal de
Biron (1753) and came to be known as the Hôtel de Biron. From 1828 to 1902, it
served as a residence for young girls; the chapel on the rue de Varenne dates
from this period. In 1904, the French state became the owner and began to rent
portions of it to artists. Rodin resided here from 1908 until his death in 1917.
Since he bequeathed all the work then in his possession to the government, the
state chose to restore the hôtel and transform it into the Musée Rodin. Several
of the artist's larger works on are display in the gardens, which have also been
restored.

The Centre Georges Pompidou (constructed
1971–1977 and known as the Pompidou Centre in English) is a building in the
Beaubourg area of the IVe arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles and the
Marais. Designed by Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers and Gianfranco Franchini, it
houses the Bibliothèque publique d'information, a vast public library, and the
Musée National d'Art Moderne. Because of its location, the Centre is known
locally as Beaubourg.